Latest news with #military conflict
Al Jazeera
an hour ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,245
Here is how things stand on Wednesday, July 23: Fighting A Ukrainian drone strike on a private bus killed three people in the Russian-occupied region of Kherson, Russian-appointed local official Vladimir Saldo said. 'Three more civilians were injured and are in serious condition,' Saldo added in a Telegram post. A Ukrainian attack killed a man in Russia's Belgorod border region, the local governor said. A Russian glide bomb attack killed a 10-year-old boy in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, the head of the city's military administration, Oleksandr Honcharenko, said. The bomb, which caused a fire in an apartment building, also wounded five others, Honcharenko added. Russia launched multiple waves of attacks on Ukraine's Sumy region, including two separate drone attacks on a petrol station in the town of Putyvl, which injured 11 people, local officials said. The Russian army claimed that it captured the village of Novotoretske in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. Ukraine's military said that a French-supplied Mirage 2000 fighter jet crashed after experiencing equipment failure during an assignment, with the pilot ejecting safely. A 'massive' Russian drone attack damaged Ukrainian gas production infrastructure, said Sergii Koretski, the CEO of Ukraine's state energy firm Naftogaz. 'Such attacks occur regularly. These objects are of no military significance,' Koretski wrote on Facebook. Ceasefire Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that there is 'no reason to expect' any 'miracles' in ceasefire negotiations, as Moscow has yet to confirm if it will participate in peace talks in Istanbul on Wednesday, which were proposed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week. The Kremlin said it hoped talks could be held 'this week', with Peskov adding: 'As soon as we are ready, we will make an announcement regarding the dates.' Outlining potential topics for discussion with Moscow in Istanbul, Zelenskyy said that Kyiv was ready to 'secure the release of our people from captivity and return abducted children, to stop the killings, and to prepare a leaders' meeting'. Ukraine said its ex-defence minister and current secretary of the security council, Rustem Umerov, will head Kyiv's delegation to the proposed talks. Two Russian soldiers in need of medical care were handed over by Ukrainian authorities to be returned home, the Russian Ministry of Defence said. In a statement, the ministry said the release was undertaken on the basis of agreements reached in Istanbul last month. Politics Zelenskyy signed a bill revoking the autonomy of two anticorruption agencies, after it was approved by a vote of 263 to 13 in Ukraine's parliament. The European Union's Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos called the decision a 'serious step back' for Kyiv and added that independent bodies were 'essential for Ukraine's EU path'. Thousands of people gathered in Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine to protest against the bill, marking the first major protest against the government in more than three years of war against invading Russian troops. The bill came a day after Ukraine's domestic security agency detained two National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine officials on suspicion of links to Russia.
The National
14 hours ago
- Politics
- The National
Israeli army resumes strikes on southern Syria
The Israel i army carried out a new drone strike on Tuesday against pro-government troops in southern Syria, sources in Jordan said. The strike on Sweida province was the Israeli army's first attack on Syria since its air stirkes last week on government troops and allied militia forces from Syria's Sunni majority, who had aimed to capture Sweida city. The provincial capital and heartland of the Druze minority has been the centre of heavy fighting in Syria. Thousands of militants have been posted near the border with Jordan as part of the offensive. Israel has accused Damascus of breaching demilitarisation deals that forbade the Syrian government from posting the military in the south. The government is mainly comprised of Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, which led to assault that toppled former president Bashar Al Assad in December. One of the sources said the latest Israeli attack came after the pro-government forces used Turkish-made Shahin drones to attack the city of Shahba, near the provincial capital of Sweida. 'They want to capture Shahba because it is seen as a weak underbelly to Sweida [city],' said the source, who added that the use of drones indicates that Syrian army personnel drawn from HTS ranks are among the attacking forces. The target of the Israeli strike on Tuesday was a column comprised of fighters loyal to Damascus, whose members have been attacking a rural region near Shahba, using Turkish drones and Grad rockets, the sources said. The area is near the main road between Sweida and Damascus, a supply artery until the government laid siege to the governorate last week. Under a US-brokered truce, pro-government forces withdrew last week from Sweida city but remained in the mostly Druze governorate. Suwayda24, a network of citizen journalists, said a pro-government militia called 'the army of the clans' attacked grain silos near the road on Monday, and used drones to attack Shahba, a city 'full of the displaced' from the rest of the governorate. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Last week, Israel mounted dozens of raids against Syrian security formations to defend the Druze, a sect of several hundred thousand in Syria whose leaders say is facing one of the biggest threats to its existence. The government has mounted three waves of incursions against Sweida since June 10, saying order needed to be restored after Sunni-Druze clashes in the city, sparked by the abduction of a Druze merchant. The government said Druze militias killed hundreds of Sunnis in Sweida after its intervention. Sweida was a centre of a non-violent protest against the Assad regime in the last year of his rule. But the Druze spiritual leadership, which had mostly opposed the former regime, also resisted the takeover of power by HTS, accusing the group of extremism and non-commitment to democracy. US diplomatic pressure on Syrian authorities, and Israeli raids, halted the main thrust of the offensive on Sunday. However, Sweida remains under siege by the central authorities.
Al Jazeera
13-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,235
Here is how things stand on Sunday, July 13: Fighting Ukrainian officials said Russian air attacks overnight on Saturday killed at least two people in the western city of Chernivtsi and wounded 38 others across Ukraine. The raids also damaged civilian infrastructure from Kharkiv and Sumy in the northeast to Lviv, Lutsk and Chernivtsi in the west. The Russian Ministry of Defence said it attacked companies in Ukraine's military-industrial complex in Lviv, Kharkiv and Lutsk, as well as a military aerodrome. The United Nations Human Rights monitoring mission in Ukraine said that June saw the highest monthly civilian casualties in three years, with 232 people killed and 1,343 injured. In Russia, a man was killed in the Belgorod region after a shell struck a private house, according to Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov. Politics and diplomacy North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told visiting Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov that his country was ready to 'unconditionally support' all actions taken by Moscow in Ukraine. Earlier, Lavrov held talks with his North Korean counterpart, Choe Son Hui, in Wonsan, and they issued a joint statement pledging support to safeguard the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of each other's countries, according to North Korean state media. Lavrov also warned the United States, South Korea and Japan against forming 'alliances directed against anyone, including North Korea and, of course, Russia'. Slovakia's prime minister, Robert Fico, said his government hoped to reach an agreement with the European Union and its partners on guarantees that Slovakia would not suffer from the end of Russian gas supplies by Tuesday. Slovakia has been blocking the EU's 18th sanctions package on Russia over its disagreement with a proposal to end all imports of Russian gas from 2028. Slovakia, which gets the majority of its gas from Russian supplier Gazprom under a long-term deal valid until 2034, argues the move could cause shortages, a rise in prices and transit fees, and lead to damage claims. Russia blamed Western sanctions for the collapse of its agreement with the UN to facilitate exports of Russian food and fertilisers. The three-year agreement was signed in 2022 in a bid to rein in global food prices. Weapons Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv was 'close to reaching a multilevel agreement' with the US 'on new Patriot systems and missiles for them'. Ukraine was stepping up production of its own interceptor systems, he added.
The National
12-07-2025
- Health
- The National
At least 27 Palestinians killed at aid distribution site in southern Gaza
At least 27 people were killed and 180 injured on Saturday when Israeli forces opened near an aid distribution site in Rafah, southern Gaza, the Wafa news agency reported. The deaths come a day after the Israeli military, which has previously accused militants of firing at civilians near aid centres, said it had worked to minimise 'possible friction' between aid seekers and soldiers. It said 'instructions were issued to forces in the field following lessons learnt'. Earlier on Friday, the UN said 798 people had been killed seeking aid between late May and July 7, including 615 in the vicinity of distribution sites operated by the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Another 33 Palestinians died in Israeli attacks across Gaza, Wafa reported. The victims included a mother and her three children in the west of Gaza city, and a couple and their children who were killed in a strike on their tent in Deir Al Balah, Wafa reported. US contractors guarding GHF aid distribution sites in Gaza are firing live ammunition and stun grenades at Palestinians rushing to get food, AP has reported, based on accounts and videos. Despite witness testimonies and Israeli confessions, the GHF denies that Palestinians have been attacked near its sites. Earlier in July, two American contractors said their colleagues regularly used stun grenades, pepper spray and bullets against aid-seekers. 'There are innocent people being hurt. Badly. Needlessly,' one of them said. Thousands of starving Palestinians typically gather near the sites. The scenes have been chaotic, turning deadly as people rush when gunfire is heard. More than 170 NGOs, including the UN, and several states such as the UK have condemned Israel's 'inhumane' aid distribution system. While aid, including baby milk, fuel and water continues to be largely denied entry into Gaza, the humanitarian situation has deteriorated beyond control. One in three people in Gaza are going without food, and 90,000 children need treatment for malnutrition, the UN has said. The ability of humanitarian agencies to respond is also being limited, Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the UN 's World Food Programme, told reporters in New York on Friday. 'I met many of these families who told me that they go through days when their children don't eat at all, but on the days they do eat, they often have hot soup with a meagre handful of lentils or a few pieces of pasta. 'Mothers told me how they try to keep their children from playing so they don't consume more energy than can be provided by food,' Mr Skau said.
